Love-a-Lot
Jean sat at the window in her bedroom, soaking wet and wrapped in a towel, staring at the stormy sky. The pathetic fallacy of the moment was not lost on her, the sky reflecting her dark mood. Logan had been sent out a month ago, she a day after that, but was soon after withdrawn for an emergency back at the mansion. She remembered climbing onto the next plane back, her mind trying to decipher what was so wrong that the professor felt he needed her. She'd ended up following the professor's mind all the way down to the infirmary where her questions were answered in a flash.
Logan was on the table, bloody and cut up, terribly injured.
FLASHBACK
"I managed to stabilize him," Hank told the dumbfounded redhead as Jean stared at the limp form. His suit had been cut open to allow his chest more room to breathe, but it made his blood and the gashes on his chest stand out brighter. Suddenly, her medical brain kicked in, overwhelming the emotions that she'd felt welling up.
"We have to get him out of that suit," she ordered. "I'm going to need disinfectant, bandages and I'm going to need to know exactly what happened."
"'E said 'e vas going to be fine," Kurt spoke up and Jean vaguely remembered Logan mentioning that his mission partner was the lithe blue man.
"What did he do?" she asked as she and Hank got to work on the blood and gore. Logan had always been reckless, but if he'd gotten himself critically injured she considered killing him herself.
"Jumped ahead while ve vere racing through a forest," Kurt answered immediately. "Since 'e's always done dat, I didn't think anything of it."
"Its okay," Jean assured him quickly, her hands brushing away Logan's uniform to his waist, allowing Hank to handle the rest. Her own hands focused on the wounds of his upper body, flying over chest and abdomen, checking for internal bleeding and mentally logging all of Logan's injuries.
"Do you know what got him?" she asked, glancing up at the worried faces around her.
"No," came Kurt's dejected reply.
"Well, from the looks of things there's no internal bleeding, which is a good thing. The bad news is that whatever got his stomach nicked the liver and intestines," she told them as a preliminary assessment. The anxious relief was that followed her statement swamped her mind for a moment and she had to ruthlessly push it and the emotions she could feel creeping into her mind back.
"With his healing capabilities, we shouldn't have to do any surgery," she surmised. That was when the assembled group started trickling out, Bobby, John and Rogue first, then Ororo and Kurt until she was left with the professor and Hank. When Hank was sure they'd done everything they could, he pulled Jean away from the prone body and over to a couch they'd put against the wall long ago for late nights in the lab.
"There's nothing else to do but wait," he told her softly. It was only then that her medical mind dissolved leaving a broken and emotional woman, tears streaming down her face. Hank pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her slender figure and allowing her to cry into his chest, as he always had.
"Jean," the professor said softly, in the same tone he used to calm her down as a child. "He will be fine. You said so yourself."
"I can't lose him," she sobbed into Hank's chest. "Not him too."
"Jean…"
"He's overloaded his healing factor and he's not out of the woods yet," she explained carefully, willing the sobs not to choke her. "I don't know how long it will take to kick in again."
"He will be fine Jean," Hank said in comfort. "You'll see.
END FLASHBACK
Fine my ass, Jean thought to herself. Weeks had passed and still Logan had not awoken.
"On the bright side, " Hank had said to her last week, when she was too tired to competently change the dressings, "his liver seems to be healed beautifully and the intestine wound has completely closed."
Still, as a doctor, she knew the stats. The longer Logan was unconscious, the less likely he had to wake up, even with his healing factor.
As was expected, Jean spent all of her free time down with him, had never left his prone form except when forced by Hank or the professor. She'd been sent up to her room an hour ago to shower, eat and change. She'd managed the first before getting caught up in the storm.
Jean… Her mind snapped back to the present as his familiar voice penetrated the fog and her shields. She shrugged it off, having believed she was hearing his voice for weeks now. Her mind drifted again, settling on a memory of the last time she'd cried, partially out of anger, partially out of fear, over his body.
Don't do this to me Logan. I can't lose you too, I love you.
She'd spoken the words out loud when no one was around, taking a small comfort in crying on his chest, even if he couldn't hold her.
Jean…
"Jean!" That one was aloud and from Ororo who burst into her room. "Jean, Logan's awake."
The redhead bounded down to the infirmary with no regard to the fact that she was still only covered by her towel. Her mind was completely focused on seeing his brown eyes intensely digging into hers.
Jean?
"Right here Logan," she called out as she raced to his side. Apparently, she was the first person Ororo had told since the lab was completely empty save her. He groaned and turned his face to hers, eyes blinking open to meet her green orbs. She checked on the bandages still scattered across his body. Gently, she pulled them off one by one, exposing the newly-healed skin.
"I'm right here," she whispered, teary-eyed and grasping his hand in her own/
He groaned again as he tried to piece together why he was in the lab. "What happened?"
"No one really knows," she told him softly, honestly. "How do you feel?"
"Sore," he answered honestly. "Like I'd rather finish my healin' curled up in bed with you."
That made her blush. "I want to keep you down here for at least another day," she said softly. "Just to make sure everything's back to normal."
His hand slowly drew up to her cheek, wiping at the red lines her tears had left behind and the dark bags. "You haven't been sleepin'."
"No."
"And you've been cryin'."
"You could have died," she shot back, voicing her fear for the first time.
"I had you to come back to," he told her simply. "That's motivation enough." Jean smiled slightly, just as Rogue bounded in, evidently having heard the good news.
"Logan!" she shrieked, racing to his side and gripping his free hand tightly. "It's about time you woke up."
Both adults smiled at her exuberance, before Jean remembered her distinct lack of attire. "I'm going to get dressed," she announced and shivered as Logan's eyes travelled her just covered body. "You two get reacquainted."
True to her word, 24 hours later, Logan was in his own bed dozing while Jean read, curled up against his side. He'd heard her declaration of love in his unconsciousness and his mind had done a happy dance. Still, he wanted to hear her say it again and had the desperate urge to say it back to her. He was hoping the red Care Bear he'd stuffed in his drawer would be of help.
Every once in a while she'd look up at him, almost refusing to believe he was really there and having to check and make sure. Eventually, he caught and held her gaze with a seductive smile, pulling her head up to his to kiss her thoroughly. It was a novelty he loved, since he'd taken his time in showing her affection after Alkali Lake. Now, he took liberties he would never have before.
"I have somethin' for you," he said, breaking away.
She chuckled slightly. "You're the sickie," she reminded him. "You're the one who's supposed to be getting gifts."
Logan graced her with an indulgent smile as he carefully reached over to his nightstand. He'd meant to give her the bear before he left, but never found the right time. Now that he'd heard her say those three life-altering words, he knew any moment would become the right time. Gently, he withdrew the plush object, holding it out for her. She stared at it for a moment before slowly taking it in her hands.
"You spoil me," she whispered. Jean had done a little bit of research after True Heart and had, by process of elimination, realized that she was missing one, all important bear.
He took a deep breath before baring his heart. "I love you."
She froze and for a split second he wondered if she was going to slap him.
"What?"
"This bear, Love-a-Lot," he began slowly, "is the last one, the only circulation Care Bear you don't own. Her job is to help spread love."
"That's not what I asked," Jean managed to breathe.
"I heard you downstairs while I was out, could hear everythin' that was bein' said 'round me."
"Logan…" her whispered voice was an annoyed plea.
He cupped her face in his palms. "I love you," he whispered into her lips, kissing her soundly. When they pulled apart, Jean looked dazed and Logan chuckled. Finally, she regained her equilibrium, a large happy grin stretching across her face.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to hear that."
He snorted. "Not half as long as I've been wantin' to say it."
She made sure to meet and hold his eyes before she spoke. "I love you. So much."
He was above and over her in a flash, ignoring his injuries and pinning her to the bed as he plundered her mouth.
"Love you," he managed between passionate kisses. "So much."
Her only response was a groan, but she opened her mind to his, pouring her love down the now-opened and, she realized, newly created link.
When Jean awoke hours later, book forgotten on the floor and sprawled on his chest she couldn't stop the ridiculously large grin from spreading across her face. Never in a million years would she have expected Logan to do the things he had in the two years she'd been back at the mansion. He'd not only spoiled her, but he'd watched over her and kept her what was now considered sane.
She looked up at his still sleeping face from her vantage point on his chest, well aware that if she moved too much, or so much as breathed irregularly, he'd be awake. Logan was special, she decided. Sure, they both had their contradictions and their faults, but they complimented each other so well that she didn't care that he was a cover hog, or that he was generally withdrawn. She had strong faith that in time everything would work out.
"What are you thinkin' 'bout?" Logan asked groggily, his hand shifting up and down her back.
"Now I understand why you didn't want to believe me dead. You loved me too much to let me go."
He smiled slightly. "Perceptive," he complimented.
"Thanks," she replied shyly. Silence descended over them easily, blanketing them in warmth and comfort. Rarely did they have tense silences anymore, simply because they were too comfortable with each other to have to talk.
"I can hear your thoughts," he said suddenly, voice awed.
"What?"
"What you're thinking," he repeated. She grinned.
"I had one of these with Scott," she explained, having caught his look of confusion. "It just developed as our relationship did."
"What is it?"
"Honestly, I'm not really sure. I just remember being extremely glad to have it on a number of occasions."
"Its giving me a headache," he admitted.
"So shield your mind," she retorted, all sass.
He smirked, his hand sliding to her hips, where he tickled her. "Smartass."
Jean laughed loudly, squirming on top of him until he crashed his lips to hers. Her focus changed abruptly as did the paths of his hands. Finally she broke off.
"Where do we go from here?" she asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "But I know whatever happens, I want to be with you."
"You really are a softy," she teased. He growled and attacked her neck and shoulders with his mouth in retaliation. She squirmed pleasantly against him.
"Move in with me," he said pulling away.
"I already have," she replied in confusion, taking a cursory glance around his room and realizing that she did indeed have a large majority of her belongings here.
"Everything," he replied. "I want to have to fight you for closet space, see the bears on the window…"
Tears welled in her eyes. "You're really serious about all of this, aren't you?"
The question was meant as rhetorical, but he answered anyway. "Jeannie, I love you and I want to spend as much time with you as I possibly can. Since we already share the same bed, and you've already got things scattered around the room, and I want you to be here, it's the next step to move your bedroom here."
She grinned widely. "Of course."
"Good," he said gruffly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him. "You and Ororo can handle that tomorrow."
She looked up at him. "Where are you going to be?"
"Chuck wants me to head to Texas…"
Alright, for those of you who were unsure about what occured at the end there, the whole point was a sort of intro of what their lives may be like after everything. No it does not mean that I'm not going to write the sequel I planned, but consider it a mini-prologue.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am incredibly sorry to say that this story is now considered complete. There is a chapter for each Care Bear in circulation and almost way too much fluff even for my own liking. Still, I enjoyed writing this and you have all been so incredibly fantastic with reviewing. I want you to know that when writing the first chapter of this I expected this story to end up with less than 50 reviews and now, I've got over 150. You guys made sure I worked my tail off writing this and I appreciate every comment you guys have made. Thank you so much, and I hope you'll read the sequel when I start it.
For the sequel: I have plans for Rogue, Remy (Gambit), Kitty, Bobby and of course, problems for my personal favourite couple Jean and Logan. As they say, Life isn't always a bowl of cherries!
Love you all,
Kavi